Undiscovered Actress

Every country and ethnic group has its ‘characters,’ people who were born with extraordinary abilities and personalities.  For most, they are never ‘discovered’ by the right person or interest group so they never achieve much beyond what one might term a ‘normal life.’

One day in Osh, we approached a burned mahalla for the first time.  As though they were waiting, a group of women ran toward us, competing for our attention.  Elaine and Sue got pulled (literally!) into a hovli of an older Uzbek woman.  She clung to us and listed her grievances;  ‘Look, my house was burned, all my furniture stolen, my plates were broken and scattered.  See, here (pointing at a meager pile) is all that we found.’  All the time, she was weeping copiously, but then I noticed something curious;  while she thought we weren’t looking, she would squeeze her tear-stained eyes open and glance at us to see if we were noticing. In other words, were we going to be moved by her story and offer her assistance?  I (Sue) thought she was trying to manipulate us and reacted by starting to attempt an exit!  Her neighbor seemed to sense my discomfort and briskly took us to her hovli. 

However, later, because of our developing friendship with the second woman, we returned to that street a few times and during the course of our visits, came to realize that our ‘actress’ was just that, someone gifted with the extraordinary talent of an actress!  We realized she was always the life of the party…. making and bringing food, laughter, and joking into the midst of everything.   We grew to love and appreciate her deeply.  She was such a ray of sunshine in a dark situation. 

On the day that she and her neighbors came to the canning project, she was one impressive worker.  She is 72 years old.  She’s obviously suffered much in her life.  On that particular day, she was fasting. Yet, she put woman 50 years younger to shame with her energy, hard work and encouragement.  She smiled constantly, worked tirelessly and talked seamlessly.  As Elaine said to me, ‘Ayam, u juda ham sho’x.’   (Mom, she’s very mischievous and upbeat.)  And she meant it as a compliment.  Even now, many weeks later, I can’t think of her without a silly, happy grin plastered across my face.  Oh, what Hollywood missed by not discovering her….but then, in my opinion, she’s beyond Hollywood!